Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers: Series I/Volume I/Confessions/Book X/Chapter 1
Chapter I.—In God Alone is the Hope and Joy of Man.
1. Let me know Thee, O Thou who knowest me; let me know Thee, as I am known.[1] O Thou strength of my soul, enter into it, and prepare it for Thyself, that Thou mayest have and hold it without “spot or wrinkle.”[2] This is my hope, “therefore have I spoken;”[3] and in this hope do I rejoice, when I rejoice soberly. Other things of this life ought the less to be sorrowed for, the more they are sorrowed for; and ought the more to be sorrowed for, the less men do sorrow for them. For behold, “Thou desirest truth,”[4] seeing that he who does it “cometh to the light.”[5] This wish I to do in confession in my heart before Thee, and in my writing before many witnesses.